Quieting the Noise

Lately my 2 year old daughter has become unreasonably preoccupied, even obsessed with any unseen, unexplained or unexpected noise. It has become so extreme that she now is easily startled by almost any sound, is 'scared' of things she never used to be and begs to have the door of whatever room she is in closed and locked.

We have reassured her that the noises are just a car door slamming, the wind rustling the leaves or a squirrel searching for nuts and that it is just a sound. I have heard her telling her dolls, hre baby brother and herself; "Don't be scared, it's just a noise." But that does not stop her from making a mad dash for my leg, or running to hide under a blanket when she hears a noise.

This morning when she prayed, "Dear Jesus, peez take away all the noises," I realized what a deep fear she is holding onto and decided we better have a talk.

I asked her who made us. She smiled and looked at me as if to say, that is so easy mom, and answered, "GOD!" I asked why she thought God gave us hands, feet, mouth, eyes, etc. We talked about how we used our hands to hold things and color. We said how happy we were to have a mouth to be able to talk and sing and eat. We laughed about how silly it would be trying to walk around without feet. Then I got to the question I was waiting to ask. "So why did God give us ears?" My daughter looked up at me and said, "So I can listen to Momma!" While that was definitely a winning answer, I probed for more. Asking what else we can hear with our ears. She thought for a bit and then said, "Daddy... and music.... and the baby crying... and sometimes the birds."

"That's right," I told her, "God gave us ears so we could hear all the different sounds. Isn't that good!" She nodded her head and said, "Yes, but I not like all the noises from wind and from rain and from outside." Then I reminded her who made the wind and the rain and who was in charge of all the outside. A wide grin spread across her face and she lowered her voice like she was telling me a secret, "Jesus said 'shhhhhh' to the wind 'n rain and it STOPPED!" I hugged her and told her she never had to be scared of a noise she heard or anything she saw because Jesus was always with her and could say 'shhhhhh' to her on the inside and make the scariness she felt stop!

Suddenly she had gotten the point I was trying to make, the noises she was scared of were just part of the many sounds in our world. And like everything else, they came from what God created and were ultimately under His control. Wow, did I really believe what I was teaching my daughter? And if so why do I sometimes let the 'noises' in my life scare me? Instantly I recognized that this morning's simple lesson was not just for my daughter but for me too!!

Lord help me to quiet the 'noise' in my life and listen to you!